Sacrifices of the Heart
by onliin
Summary: When Sonic makes a difficult decision, it changes everything. Sacrifices are made, promises aren't kept, and weakness is found in unexpected places. Sonic fights against the darkness in himself, and finds he may not want to win against it. AU set after Sonic Unleashed. The first few chapters are being revised and rewritten.
1. Sweet Dreams

Notes: This chapter has been rewritten.

Prologue

The first thing Sonic saw, was light. Standing on a floor unseen, he called out, voice echoing off nonexistent walls..

"Hello? Where am I?" Not expecting an answer, Sonic shuffles in place, wondering if he had made a mistake. After Dark Gaia had been defeated, Sonic had realized he had overestimated himself. He wasn't powerful; he wasn't heroic. He was just a tiny insignificant hedgehog who was incapable of properly protecting his friends.

He had turned to the Gods of Gaia for assistance.

They had yet to respond to him.

Sighing, Sonic fidgeted unhappily. Pushing away his irritation, Sonic forced himself to stand tall. He needed to do this. He needed to make sure he could save his friends.

"You love them."

The statement flickered in the open air, its source seemingly invisible. Taking a deep breath, Sonic nodded.

"And you are prepared to lose everything in order to protect them."

It was not a question, and yet Sonic found himself nodding again.

"You will not be able to control it."

Sonic finds that he doesn't care, "As long as my friends will not be in danger."

"That is up to you, and you alone."

Sonic takes a deep breath, before nodding again, "What must I do?"

"Survive."

And then he woke up.


	2. Give it Up

Notes: This chapter has been rewritten as of September 22 2013.

Chapter 1  
>Give it up<p>

For as long as he could remember, Sonic loved to run. He would push his legs as fast as they could go, until the wind streamed through his fur and the noise of the world was reduced to nothing more than a muffle of music. He would run for hours, exploring all parts of the world, and meeting all different people.

He would run to the mountains at night and watch the stars overhead and breath in the cold air and just feel at peace with the world.

He loved to run, because running meant freedom.

But it also meant he could run from responsibilities.

And for a very long time, he had done just that. When Amy would pepper him with unwanted affection, he would run from her. When an enemy was to powerful, he would run. When he was feeling unwanted or unhappy, he would run.

So he needed to stop running.

He knew he wouldn't be able to protect his friends if he continued to run. One day, he would run to far, and he wouldn't be able to reach them in time. He would run to long, and wouldn't have the strength to find his way back. He would run to fast, and find himself leaving his friends behind.

Whenever he thought he ran to fast, his friends had always found a way to find him again. As of lately, he found that instead of being relieved when they caught up, he was sad. Not because he hadn't wanted to see them, but because he had forgotten he had even left them behind.

So now here he was, laying on the very mountain he had thought about earlier, watching the sun set, and trying not to think about what would happen once the sun disappeared.

The thought occurred to him that maybe he had run to fast this time; maybe he had finally done it, and his friends would never find him.

But then he heard the footsteps, and knew he had been mistaken.

He raised his eyes to see Amy's face, and found himself at peace.

Amy however, was not so peaceful.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," she said sternly, hands on her hips. "So this is where you've been hiding. We've been looking for you." Sonic offered a sheepish smile, and she didn't return it.

Turning away from him, she called out, "I found him! He's over here!"

Sonic's heart jumped in his chest. It was one thing if Amy was witness. She had seen it before. He wasn't sure if he could handle all of his friends watching him…

He sighed, and felt his body relax into the dirt under him.

He would have to tell them all one way or another anyways…

He blinked, and his friends had joined them. He hid a grimance, Amy had brought everyone. Knucnles, Tails, Cream, Cheese, Shadow, and even Chip had arrived. Why on earth the little sprite had decided to stick around, Sonic had no idea. He was grateful none the less.

Shadow glanced at Chip every few minutes, and Sonic inwardly snickered, "What are you all doing here? Did I do something wrong?"

Shadow's eyes fell on him, and he opened his mouth to speak before he stopped suddenly. Blinking a few times, Shadow spoke, "What did you do?"

Unsurprised that Shadow had already figured it out, Sonic only shrugged. They would find out whether he told them or not.

Tails looked down at him, confused, "What does he mean Sonic? We heard that Eggman was back, and wanted to make sure you were alright. Did you do something? Are you alright?"

So Egghead was bakh was he? Sonic sighed. Somehow he knew he would cause more trouble than he was worth.

Sonic smiled at him, then stood. "I'm fine Tails. Nothing I wont be able to handle.

"What. Did. You. Do?"

Sonic glanced at Shadow, who had gritted his teeth and was glaring at the hedgehog. Sonic frowned.

"Shadow relax. Everyone will find out in a few minutes anyways."

Knuckles sat next to him, shortly followed by the others. "What will we know? What did you do?" Tails went to place his hand on Sonic's shoulder when Sonic stiffened.

"Sonic?" Amy asked, worried. "What's wrong?"

Sonic's shoulders sagged, before he looked at Tails, clearly bored, "You did say Eggman was back, right?"

Tails nodded.

"Well he's here, so..."

Tails had no time to wonder how Sonic knew, before they were surrounded. He gasped.

Eggman was surrounded by Dark Gaia lower minions, the very same ones Sonic had defeated only a few days ago.

Amy exclaimed in surprise, before drawing out her hammer. Tails tossed Cream a wrench before taking one up himself, and Knuckles barred his fists. Shadow stared at Sonic, who was standing nonchalantly off to the side.

"Faker." Sonic glanced up at Shadow, "What did you do."

"I promised to protect all of you."

And then the sun set.

Chip placed himself on Sonic's head, ready to fight but unwilling to. He looked down to say something to the hedgehog but froze when he felt the being under him shudder.

A familiar sight met his eyes, and Chip's heart broke for his friend, while Eggman's heart froze out of anger.

Darkness enveloped Sonic, and Chip flew from his head carefully, not wanting to upset the change. The darkness ebbed its way into the vision of everyone present, blinding Eggman, and knocking his friends out in the process. As the light faded, the form Sonic had become to familiar with in the past few weeks reappeared.

He was taller. Much taller. His bright blur fur had darkened and elongated into a poisonous purple color. His bright green eyes had darkened, turning sharper and colder, while his arms stretched, claws sharpening.

Eyeing his hands, Sonic sighed.

He had made a promise to himself, and the Gods of Gaia.

If this is what it took to protect his friends, than so be it.

And then he attacked, and he won. And he carried his unconscious friends back home.


	3. What Now?

Notes: Rewritten as of September 22 2013

Chapter 3  
>Now What?<p>

Tails groaned, rubbing his head after his sudden return to consciousness. Sitting up, he rubbed his temples slowly, taking in his surroundings.

Knuckles was sitting cross legged, elbows on his knees, head in his hands. His eyes were lightly closed but he appeared to be awake. Cream was lying on her back, still unconscious, but stirring. Cheese was next to her, trying to wake her.

Chip was flying overhead, his head snapping side to side frantically. Shadow was watching him quietly. He was cross-legged like Knuckles, and once Tails caught his gaze, his eyes closed.

Amy was fidgeting uncomfortably, playing with the hem of her dress. Every so often she would glance around, before returning her gaze to her feet.

Sonic was nowhere to be seen.

Tails swallowed thickly, before pushing himself to his feet. "Where's Sonic? What happened?"

Knuckles blinked and gestured to Chip lazily, "He knows, but he wont say."

Chip was still circling around the group, mumbling to himself and looking even more nervous than before. Tails watched the emotions flickering across his small face, and was startled.

Was Chip sad?

"Hey Chip?"

Without pausing in his search he answered, "Yeah Tails?"

"What are you looking for?"

"Oh, just a friend of mine." This caused the others to look up. He had remained silent through their questioning.

"Oh. Well who is it? Do I know them?"

Chip stopped circling and just hovered, before looking down at Tails. The yellow fox could've swore he saw tears in his eyes. Before he could his ears swiveled around, and he took off.

They blinked, and Shadow was gone too.

"Where did they go?" Amy yelled, "They were right there!"

"Hurry up!" Knuckles was already running after them, and Tails watched him leave hesitantly.

By now, Cream had woken, and was standing hesitantly next to Cheese. The look on her face wasn't one of fear, or sadness. It was one of concern.

Tails realized it wasn't directed at them.

"Sonic! Where's Sonic?"

* * *

><p>Chip raced as fast as his stubby wings could carry him. His heart pounded in his ears and his eyes darted all around, searching. And finally finding.<p>

"Oh, Sonic."

Sonic was once again a Werehog, much to Chip's dismay. He remembered how hard it was on his friend the first time this had happened. Remembering his initial plans to leave after Dark Gaia had been destroyed, Chip had never been more thankful that he had stayed.

He landed a few feet from his friend who appeared to be sleeping on the ground, and ran to his side.

He had been silently watching his friend ever since he had returned to normal after Dark Gaia had been defeated, and had noticed an unfortunate change.

The darkness had returned, and was working on slowly devouring his body. Sonic had made a deal, which allowed him to protect his friends and control the darkness, but he might never run again.

His old form would be lost forever.

Chip just hoped his sanity wouldn't be lost to the darkness as well.

Sonic whimpered, causing Chip to panic. He immediately checked his friend for wounds, and was rather startled when he found a long gash going from his left ear to the bottom of his opposite eye.

Sonic's eyes opened slightly and he raised a clawed hand only to set it over the gash. He brought it away and stared at the blood, eyes large.

Voices echoed through the trees nearby, and Chip strained his ears to listen.

"Sonic! Where are you?" Amy's voice.

"Hey Sonic! Chip, where are you guys?" Knuckles.

"Where are you!" Cream.

"Chi chi!" Cheese.

At his friends voices, Sonic sat up gingerly, and felt a hand to large to be Chip's on his shoulder. By the time he looked however, the hand was gone, and Shadow stood quietly off to the side. Sonic's attention was brought back to Chip when he realized the sprite was yelling at him.

"What were you thinking? I know what you did, so don't even try to lie! Why didn't you ask for help? Why do you try to do everything alone!"

Sonic sighed, face blank, and then suddenly let out a tremendous howl. Chip jumped and clapped his hands over his ears, and to Sonic's amusement, so had Shadow. At his chuckle, the black hedgehog scoffed in irritation, before placing himself carelessly onto a tree branch above their heads.

"Sorry."

The sound of running feet caught their attention.

"I wont," Chip looked at Sonic. "Not this time."

* * *

><p>Knuckles gasped when he saw Sonic, and immediately stepped back into a fighting position, his fists brought protectively above his chest. Tails's eyes widened, and the fox stepped forward slowly, completely caught off guard.<p>

Amy had burst into tears.

Cream had froze in shock, but upon seeing Sonic's bleeding muzzle hurried forward, trying to get him to lean down so she could bandage it.

Cheese had fainted.

Shadow remained in the tree.

Forcing his body to relax, Knuckles breathed out of his nose quietly, "You ok Sonic?"

He only nodded and closed his eyes, "Muzzle hurts though."

They jumped at his new, deeper voice and went to help him. But before they could touch him, Chip ran in between them, shielding Sonic.

"Chip? What's the matter?" Tails went to lay a hand on his shoulder but Chip only brushed it away.

"I need to know." he said slowly, "…what you're going to do with him, now that he's a werehog again."

"Again?" Knuckles asked confused.

Chip sighed.

This was going to be a long night.


	4. Unimformative

Notes: Rewritten as of September 22 2013

Chapter 4

Unimformative

"…I guess that makes sense." Knuckles had his arms crossed as he addressed Tails. Thankful his friend had understood, Tails nodded and turned to Chip.

"Thanks for being calm about it," Chip said. He could've sworn the echidna was on the verge of storming off, but had kept his poise. He started to fly back to Sonic, but was stopped due to a gently tug on his leg.

"I think we have a few questions for you first mister," Amy huffed, placing her hands on her hips, "Why is sonic like that again?"

"Yeah, what happened to him?" Tails asked shyly.

Sonic looked at Chip before laying his head back on the ground, "I know I said I wouldn't do this alone," he said to Chip, "…but explaining everything right now would be useless."

"But Sonic!"

"Tails please understand." Tails quieted. "I know you just want to help, but explaining what happened won't help anything right now."

"…Alright."

"Thanks." Sonic sighed and closed his eyes, letting out a small noise of pain.

"What's wrong Sonic?" Amy asked.

Sonic opened his eyes slightly, "Cream, can you help me with my cut now? Sorry I wouldn't let you before."

Cream shook her head before stepping forward and gingerly wiping his cut clean, "I should be sorry, not you. I should've fixed this whether you let me or not."

Shadow chuckled from above, "Yeah right. In this form he probably would've bitten your head off."

Sonic closed his eyes again, "I couldn't have."

Tails eyes hardened in worry, "Hey, Sonic...why haven't you moved yet?"

Chip turned to face Sonic and patted his head reassuringly, "He can't."

Trying to refrain from freaking out, Amy asked, "What? Why?"

"Changing your genetic makeup takes the energy out of you for a while."

Sonic frowned to himself, before motioning for Chip to come closer, and whispered into his ear.

"What should I tell them?"

Chip watched him sadly, then shrugged as if to say 'Which matters more?'

Sonic sighed, before whispering sadly, "I wonder why I made a promise to protect them, when the darkness will just make me hurt them."

Chip looked at his friend sadly. "I'm so sorry." he whispered,

"What're you whispering about?"

Chip jumped, before turning around and smiling innocently at Amy.

"Nothing?"

Amy growled.

Sonic sighed, "I made a deal with the gods of Gaia. I thought I was to weak to properly protect you all when I was a normal hedgehog. I knew I was stronger in this form, so I said to heck with it." He gestured to himself, "Now I can protect you all better."

Before they could react, Chip added, "There's a catch though." They turned to him. "Because Dark Gaia's gone, the darkness that keeps Sonic like this doesn't have an outlet. It'll probably try and kill him, or at least hurt his sanity."

Sonic sighed through his muzzle, wincing as the action made his wound sting. "Sorry guys," he mumbled. "I didn't think that would happen."

Cream finished cleaning his cut and bandaged it quickly, smiling sadly to herself.

Yawning carefully, Sonic turned away. "I'm gonna get some sleep. Wake me in the morning."

Then there was silence.

Cream stared sadly at Sonic's bandages, frowning when blood began to seep through them. "How did he get this anyway?"

"Chi chi!" Cheese chirped beside her.

"Oh," she said simply and returned her gaze to Sonic. "He needs to take better care of himself."

Amy's head snapped up, "Wait! When the sun rises, wont he be normal again? Just like before?"

"No. I'm afraid not." Chip placed a hand on his sleeping friends ears, rubbing them affectionately, and smiling when he earned a quiet purr.

They just sat there in silence, wondering what was going to happen, and what had already that they didn't know about.

Something was wrong in Tail's mind. Something that Sonic had said.

Something that he knew he had to remember.


	5. You Do Not Hear You Listen

I 4got to say, they didn't make it back to their home. They're about 3 miles from there, in a forest of sorts.

* * *

><p>Sonic's eyes opened slowly, and immediatly pain flooded his senses. Moaning quietly, he moved his eyes, trying to find his friends, suprised when they were knowhere in sight. He didn't know if he should be happy or sad about that. He could see tiny black dots in the edge of his vision, and blinked, trying to rid himself of them. He would not pass out right after he woke up.<p>

He used his claws to help pull himself up, using the nearby trunk of a tree as a support. Panting slightly, he became angry. He had rested enough. He shouldn't still be tired, he didn't want to be!

The black filled his vision once again and he blinked, but had to take a step back out of shock. He wasn't in the same place anymore, and the tree he was using was crudly sliced in two, the top half not even finished falling.

He growled and looked at his hands.

_'It's already started. I can't believe it!'_

He punched the next tree nearest and watched, blankly as it fell as well. The Darkness was already trying to take over. It was before but, well...

It had never won before.

He sighed and began his search for his friends. He already missed them. And by 'them,' he of course meant Chip. He had formed a bond with the little sprite,  
>and cared for him like a little brother.<p>

If anyone had hurt him...

He could feel the darkness rising in his chest, along with hate, and realized something.

_'I can use this to help me,'_ He smiled and pushed the hate back, the darkness receeding with it. It seemed, whenever He was angry, the hatred drew forth the darkness.

Problem was, he seemed to anger, much easier.

Now, normally, if you'd ask Sonic's friends, they'd say he was a reletively happy person. Ask his enemy, , and He'd tell you something completly different. He'd tell you to never upset the Hedgehog unless you had a death wish. He had seen, and it wasn't pretty.

Strangly, Sonic found himself smiling at the memory. Pushing past tree after tree, he listened for his friends. A sharp pain suddenly shot theough hid face and he yelped loudly. He sank to his knees, hands trying to stop the blood from flowing out of his muzzle.

How the hell did he even get this anyway?

He sighed, brushing the pain away and stood again, growling quietly when he could not hear his friends. What did it matter how he got injured. Nothing could be done.

And his scratch was the least of his worries.

He calmed himself, and began to listen again.

And this time, he heard.

* * *

><p>AUTHOR SPEAKING<br>Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmnnnnn it's been a while huh? Haha, sorry for such a long pause in writing guys. But I'm still on it! 


	6. Monster

Sonic was running, or at least, he was trying to. He growled quietly, as he had to stop for a third time in just a few minutes. His new body was considerably biggier and heavier then his old, which made dodging through trees and just moving at all wa a bit of a challenge.

Breathing harder than he would have liked, Sonic came to a complete stop, mentally cursing himself. He knew what he was getting himself into when he made that promise. But he had made it to save his friends, and nothing could be more important then them.

Right?

Closing his eyes, he listened once more, faintly hearing his friends talking calmly amongst themselves. Shaking his head, he continued on, though at a much slower pace.

His breath hitching, he closed his eyes, not stopping his walk. He had heard them again. He winced, placing a large hand over each ear. But why did they have to be so damned loud? Opening his eyes again, he spotted them yards away, whispering quietly amongst themselves. He paused, startled, and uncovered his ears. He was disappointed when their voices continued booming in his head. Grimancing, he walked on quietly, listening to their conversation all the while.

Amy asked, "So what are we going to do now?"

A sigh from Tails, "Not anything we can do. Guess we should try and act like nothing's changed."

Knuckles rapped the ground with his spiked fist, causing tiny cracks to bloom. "How are we supposed to do that with Sonic turning into that Monster?"

Sonic stopped walking, hidden from view by the trees. He flinched at his friends words, though no expression made way to his face.

Cream breathed out, "Theres nothing to do but give him our support." Cheese chirped in agreement.

Shadow snorted, "You can all support the faker as much as you want. I've got better things to do." With that he turned in Sonic's direction and began running. Upon reaching the still hedgehog, his eyes widened slightly in guilt, but then he simply nodded and continued on, giving no one the clue that he had seen the broken hedgehog.

"Shadow! Come on!" Tails yelled after him. Sonic violently flinched and clapped his hands to his ears, a small whimper escaping his mouth.

Chip, who had been silent, sat straighter when the small sound crossed his ears. He twisted his head around, trying to spot his friend, but was unsuccessful. The others watched him curiously.

"Chip?" Tails asked, "What'cha doing?"

Chip stood slowly, and started walking, "Theres something I gotta do." He turned slightly to face them, "I'll see you all later. Go get some rest."

They watched him fly off silently, before they continued to talk amongst themselves.

"Where do you suppose he's going?"

"Knuckles you idiot. He's going to Sonic obviously."

Knuckles paused, "Then why aren't we following him?"

Amy hesitated, "Lets do what Chip said. Is there anywhere around here we can take shelter?"

"My Mom lives close by. We could go see her, Cream offered.

"I don't want to intrude on your mother Cream."

Cream huffed and crossed her arms, "Then lets rephrase. I miss my mommy. Take me there."

Tails smiled, if you insist."

* * *

><p>Chip heard the sound of his friends laughter behind him, then waited until he heard their footsteps going away from them. He then turned to the pained hedgehog next to him. Sonic still had a blank look on his face, hands over his ears.<p>

Chip looked up at him, concerned. He had never seen this side of his friend before. He flew up carefully, and gently touched Sonic's hand covering his ear.

Sonic flinched and turned quickly. Seeing that it was Chip, he instantly relaxed, letting his hands fall from his ears.

"What...what are you doing, Chip?"

Chip remained silent.

Sonic smiled sadly, and gestured for his friend to hop on his shoulder, which he did. Sonic started walking after his friends, letting Chip run his small hands over the short fur behind his ears.

"Chip. It's times like these that tell you who your real friends are." Chip hummed his agreement.

"They don't hate you sonic. They're just afraid. You're acting strange. What's wrong?"

Sonic didn't answer, but right when Chip was about to give up, he asked quietly, "You don't think I'm a monster, right?"

Looking at his changed friend, Chip could tell that something was cracking. Sonic's optimism was slowly being replaced. He was no longer the happy, fast hedgehog he used to be.

Chip hugged what he could reach of his furry friend. "No. Never."

For the first time in what felt like forever, Sonic felt happy.

He sighed, "As long as you don't, that's all that matters." He cleared his throat.

"Now, off to Vanillas."

* * *

><p>AUTHOR- shrugs. I dun no. ^ '' ^ been a while hasn't it? Thanks for sticking with me all this time. I have a new pole up for those of you waiting for an update on my 'True Colors of a Sari' story. Please vote. If you haven't read it, then vote, 'Yes and re-write' please.<p> 


	7. Mother love me

By the time Sonic reached Vanilla's house, his friends were already laughing inside. He looked at Chip, who had fallen asleep on his shoulder, nuzzled into his fur. The sight warmed his hurting heart, and he stepped closer. He winced as their voices reached his throbbing ears.

'_Do they never shut up?'_

He reached out to knock but stopped in thought. By the sound inside, his friends hadn't told Vanilla about Sonic's new form, and had no intention of doing so. He didn't want to scare her. Not the kind hearted woman that had worried and fussed over him when he needed her.

Looking at Chip once again, he frowned sadly. He hated to wake his friend, but he didn't feel that he could handle someone screaming at him again. Shaking him carefully, Chip began to wake.

"Five more minutes," He mumbled, and Sonic grinned.

"Wake up dork. We're here." Eyes shooting open, Chip sat quickly, and gasped when the movement made him fall from Sonic's shoulder.

His worry was for nothing however, as Sonic caught him immediately. Chip smiled gratefully, and didn't question Sonic when he left Chip at the door by himself. He knew why. He knew his best friend.

Knocking softly, he heard the voices in the house quiet in aprehension. Not wanting her mother to have a heart attack if it was Sonic. Cream opened the door, and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Chip! You're here!"

Chip smiled at her, and quietly explained the situation to her. She nodded and said equally as quiet, "It's alright. We already told her about it."

Sonic's eyes widened, and he felt slightly guilty at having doubted his friends so easily.

"Where is he now?" Chip gestured to the forest and Cream nodded, before calling out, "Mommy! Chip and Sonic are here!"

"I'm coming dear!" Sonic smiled when he heard Vanilla's voice. She was the closest thing he had to a mother, and he loved her like one.

Stepping onto the porch quietly, Vanilla greeted Chip brightly, before asking concerned,

"Where's Sonic dear?"

Chip smiled before leading her slowly over to the edge of the forest where Sonic hid. Said were turned hedgehog was having a panic attack. His heart slammed inside his chest and he could barely breathe. If Vanilla screamed. If his not-mother _screamed_…he wouldn't be able to take it.

But as he came back to reality, he realized, she _wasn't _screaming. She was in front of him, her hands on his, a worried look in her eyes. And she was _talking _to him.

"-you alright? Sonic dear, what's wrong?"

Sonic's vision blurred as tears ran down his cheeks, and he hated himself for being so weak. Leaning forward, he rested his head on her chest carefully, so she wouldn't see his tears.

She just smiled at him and pet his head. "It's fine dear. Everything's alright. Mama's got you. You brave boy."

Sonic didn't see his friends pop their heads out of Vanilla's house, and for the better. Not everyone was as accepting as Vanilla was. Friends or not, there was one thing that kept Sonic apart from his friends.

Fear.

They were scared of him. But at the moment, Sonic didn't care. Because he was with the one person who _didn't_.

_She wasn't afraid._


	8. Be my brother

Sonic smiled happily in his sleep as Vanilla pet his fur lovingly, his head in her lap. After he had calmed down, he had realized how exhausted he was, and Vanilla encouraged him to sleep, which he willingly did.

She smiled as she looked at him, happy that her child appeared to be alright. Without glancing up, she spoke to the people in the room.

"What's the plan?" They looked at her, startled, "I don't suppose you feel comfortable with taking him around other people do you?"

Tails frowned, "That's not it…I don't want anyone to treat him differently, now that he's…"

Knuckles mumbled quietly, "I don't suppose it's a problem…"

Amy nodded, "Yes! Sonic is still Sonic! When he was like this before, he seemed to get along just fine with other people!"

Chip frowned, "How would you know? You were almost never with him."

Amy frowned at him, "Don't act like you know him better than we do. We've been friends with him longer. We know him better."

Chip sighed, but forced himself not to argue. Vanilla, sensing the tension, sighed quietly. "Children today are so foolish."

Cream giggled, "But not me, right Mommy?"

Vanilla smiled, "Of course sweetie." she said smoothly, making Cream smile along with Cheese, who chirped in approval.

Remembering something, Amy asked suddenly, "Is it really safe to stay here though?"

Knuckles frowned, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Didn't Chip say that Sonic was loosing his mind or something? What if he flips out?"

Before Chip could respond, Vanilla said sternly, "If you give him your support, as friends are supposed to do, then there will be no problem."

Chip nodded and smiled at Vanilla. He was beginning to like her. He smiled at his friends sleeping face, relieved that, for once, Sonic looked happy. But he had to agree slightly with Amy. Sonic wasn't safe. He wasn't stable.

With all that had been going on, Chip realized that he had been the only one that really stayed by Sonic's side. His friends had all left to Vanilla's without a seconds hesitation, and Shadow had run from him, knowing he had hurt the changed were hog.

He didn't understand why they had done so either. Sure they must have been scared of Sonic, but it wasn't as if Tails and Amy hadn't seen it firsthand before. And he himself was scared of Sonic when they had first met, but he had accepted him and trusted him, regardless.

He shook his head and joined Vanilla in petting his friends head. Sonic purred quietly in his content sleep, which made Chip smile wider.

Sonic's friends were watching cautiously, as though they expected Sonic to jump up and attack any second. Chip decided to question them about it.

"What's so horrible about his new form?" They jumped at the unexpected question. "I mean, it's not like he's any different then before in his heart. He's still Sonic." They started to respond, but he cut in quickly, "And don't tell me it doesn't bother you, because I know that it does."

Amy was angry at how straight forward Chip was being about the boy of her dreams, "What gives you the right to question us! Don't forget, you're only Sonic's friend because he needed your help the _first _time he changed!"

Chip recoiled in shock, accidentally waking up Sonic, though no one noticed, as he didn't open his eyes, nor move. He only listened.

"That…that's not…Sonic didn't…" Sonic's ears perked up at his name. They were talking about him? He picked up on his friends fear, and became worried. "Sonic would never do that!"

Tails frowned, "Amy, Chip's right. You shouldn't be so cruel when he's only truing to help." Knuckles nodded.

"I agree with Tails. Amy, what's really wrong?"

Amy glared at Chip, before shouting, "Don't make me look like the bad guy here!"

Caught off guard by the sudden shout, Sonic's eyes snapped open, and his hands shot to cover his throbbing ears. _'When will this end!'_

Chip immediately comforted him, trying to encourage him to take his hands from his ears, and slowly succeeding. Vanilla continued to caress his fur, and he slowly calmed down.

His friends just watched in concern, until Tails asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"Since his change, his ears got extremely sensitive to loud noises. They probably hurt since the 'girl who thinks she knows everything about him', shouted so close to his ears."

Amy turned a bright shade of red, furious, and stormed out of the room with her hammer.

Chip heard the sounds of trees being smashed from outside, and sighed to himself.

Tails said accusingly, "Chip! You shouldn't provoke her!"

"So you're saying that I'm wrong?"

Tails' shoulders sagged in answer, and Chip shook his head. Sonic finally took his hands from his ears and asked, "What on earth's going on?"

Chip shook his head and smiled, "Nothing you need to worry about. Amy just left to blow off some steam."

Sonic winced and nodded, "Yeah I noticed."

Knuckles watched the two curiously and asked, "Is it true?" Chip looked at him confused.

"Do you know Sonic better than us?"

Chip paused for a moment to think it over, then responded strongly, "In a way."

Instead of getting angry, Tails, Knuckles, and Cream just looked at him, until Tails asked, "In what way?"

Chip took a breath, and Sonic listened, curious to what his friend had to say about him. "I know Sonic differently than you know him. You know him for how he acts. What he does. I know him for what he thinks. How he feels. I know him for who he really is, not who he pretends to be."

Sonic took a breath, surprised. He realized, that Chip was right. When he was with his friends, he was all smiles normally, and never showed how he really felt. He had always just run away. But since he had changed, Chip had been there for him. He'd had to slow down. He had let the small spirit know more about himself than he knew.

He didn't know what to think. But it made him strangely…happy. A small smile appeared on his face, and he sat up carefully from Vanilla's hold, wary of his claws and her skin. When he sat upright, he watched his friends faces as they thought about what they had learned.

Amy had quieted from outside, and Sonic had to assume that she had, somehow, heard what had been said, and was thinking about it.

He took the chance to think for himself. He thought about everything that had happened to lead up to this point, and he found himself thinking, _'Did I make the right choice? Is giving up the things I love worth the protection of those who fear me?' _He glanced up at Chip, who was floating above his head, was carefully rubbing one of Sonic's ears, easing the pain away.

Sonic smiled widely. _'If it wasn't, then my relationship I have now with Chip, __is__ worth it.' _Watching Chip, he realized the small spirit was shivering. He reached up, and he startled Chip by pulling him to his chest, and hugging him with one arm.

At Chip's look, Sonic shrugged, "You were shivering." Chip's eyes widened in understanding, and immediately smiled, nuzzling into Sonic's warm fur.

"Thanks Sonic."

Sonic smiled at his friend, "Any time."

Vanilla watched the two curiously. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you two were brothers."

Sonic stiffened at this, but smiled, "Really?" She nodded, and he relaxed. "Oh." Chip looked up at him curiously.

"You okay Sonic?" This caught the attention of the other's in the room, who looked up sharply, immediately thinking that Sonic had begun his descent into madness. They felt guilty at their unreasonable expectation.

Cream swallowed thickly, "I'm going to get Amy. She sounds like she's calmed down." And she quickly left the room.

Tails cleared his throat, and said "I'm sorry Sonic. For the way things are going. But I've got to take a break, or I'll explode. I'll be back later…" And he left as well.

Knuckled coughed awkwardly and followed after Tails, leaving Chip, Sonic, and Vanilla alone. Chip hadn't taken his eyes off his friend.

"You _are _okay, aren't you?"

Sonic smiled and hugged Chip tighter, "I've never had a brother."

At his pleading look, Chip laughed, "Alright! I guess were brothers now!"

Vanilla watched as Sonic gave the biggest grin she had seen that day. But the happy mood was destroyed in an instant.

As there was a scream of fear from outside.

* * *

><p>Author here! ...meh. Haha such a worthy author's note huh? Well anywa's, I hope you enjoy my story! 8D<p> 


	9. This is Important Please Read

Im putting this on all of my stories. Apparently, the FF authorities are going to mass delete all ff stories that are inspired by songs, have sexual themes, or are violent, which i think is absolutly stupid.

There's a petition you can sign here to make this not happen.

Sigh it and spread the news!

www. change petitions/fanfiction-net-stop-the-destruction-of-fanfiction-net (without spaces at beginning)


	10. True Colors

Sonic folded his ears down when the scream had occurred, the sound hurting his ears. Instead of rushing out to meet his friends, the first thing he wanted to do was wait until his ears felt better. He didn't know why, but he almost zoned out his friends screams. They annoyed him slightly for some reason.

Realizing that the old Sonic wouldn't approve of his behavior, he sighed to himself and followed Chip and Vanilla outside of the house. Chip looked at him, confused as to why he was late, but then returned his gaze to what was happening, scared.

Sonic followed his gaze, and looked straight into the sorrowful eyes of Doctor Eggman. The doc had brought an army of Dark Gaia's minions.

Sonic frowned, and looked to where each of his friends were. Tails and Knuckles were working on freeing Amy from under an unconscious minion they had had to save her from. Cream and Cheese were standing in front of them, as though they were trying to protect them. A bit out of character if you asked Sonic.

He took a breath, and said strongly, "What do you want Eggman? I thought you were dead." Heads shot to look in his direction. Amy's scared and the other's confused.

Eggman inhaled, then raised his arms to gesture to the army around him. "Dark Gaia," he took a breath, "Is not one to…tolerate failure. I have come to take you Sonic, back to Dark Gaia."

Sonic frowned, "What exactly does Dark Gaia want with me?"

Eggman frowned, "You misunderstood me Sonic. Gaia wants you…as you used to be. Gaia wants to take the rest of your sanity from you."

Sonic narrowed his eyes, "You know what happened last time, with the Metorex. I thought you disapproved of that particular feeling?"

His friends stared at him, shocked. Tails stuttered out, "Y-you've gone in-insane before? Son-Sonic?"

Sonic ignored him, and so did Eggman. The Doctor said simply, "I don't have a choice." He suddenly smiled, his eyes darkening under Gaia's strong influence, "Have fun in hell, hedgehog!"

And the minions attacked. Sonic immediately pulled Vanilla and Chip behind him, shielding them from all attacks. He shouted to Chip, "Get Vanilla somewhere safe!"

Nodding, Chip pulled Vanilla out of sight into the woods. No one noticed their departure. Sighing in relief when the two had gone, Sonic turned to face the threat head on.

He growled violently, "Come and get it!" Stretching his arms, Sonic slashed at the minions, effectively killing multiple copies at once. Tails and Knuckles finally got the downed minion off of Amy, and turned to help Sonic, but found they could only stare.

Sonic growled as he violently killed the minions, the only thing on his mind being his friends safety. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his friends standing there, watching him. They didn't notice the minion that had been on Amy getting up. Sonic's rage flared, and before the minion could even fully stand up, Sonic had killed him.

Tails and the others had only blinked before Sonic was on them, killing anything that went near them. He stood in front of them, so they couldn't see his face, but Eggman could, and a spark of his sanity returned.

"Sonic! Do not turn out like a certain other hedgehog!" and then the spark was gone again, replaced with the laughing insane Doctor. Hoping his words had reached Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream all looked up at the back of Sonic's head.

Their hopes were shattered when he turned his head to yell back. His eyes were pitch black, his irises turned a bright yellow with specks of black in them.

"You need to be quiet!" Sonic growled, and he was off again. Knocking aside minions to reach the Doctor. Peeking out from hiding in the woods, Chip gasped when he saw his friend. In a flash he flew up to where Eggman was, and right before Sonic reached him, he flew in front of the Doctor, shielding him.

"Sonic stop it!"

Amy and the others froze, staring at Sonic's back, fearing for their little friend whom they couldn't see. Vanilla looked from her hiding spot and stifled a gasp.

Sonic's claws were hovering not even a millimeter from Chip's face. His arm was shivering, and his eyes were misted over, as if he was lost, trying to find his way again.

Eggman growled and swatted Chip out of the way, causing the little sprite to cry out as he hit the ground.

All restraint Chip had given Sonic was gone.

Amy and the others watched, scared for their lives as Sonic violently attacked the Doctor, only to find himself being blocked as minion after minion sacrificed themselves to shield Eggman.

Eggman, not being a fool, realized he was going to loose, and fled, but not before Sonic grapped onto the chair he always flew around on, and brought their faces close.

He growled, "If you touch him again, you will die in the most inhumane way I can think of."

Snarling at the threat, Sonic released Eggman's seat, then when the possessed man was gone, his eyes seemed to clear, and he rushed over to his friend, who was staring at him.

Looking at each of his friends, Sonic saw only fear in their faces. But when he looked to Chip, he saw only curiosity, maybe concern, but no fear. It was the same with Vanilla.

"Sonic…" Amy whimpered out. Sonic growled and rolled his eyes, mentally thinking, _'I'm not going to deal with this right now. There's no way in hell.'_

Keeping all of his attention on Chip and Vanilla, he asked caringly, "Are you two alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Vanilla shook her head, and Chip started to, but winced when one of his tiny wings brushed the ground. The pain sent small tremors through his body, and Sonic's eyes softened in understanding.

The little sprites wings were what brought him flight, and transported him most places. He liked to walk, but flying was always more comfortable for the small sprite. They were also the most fragile and sensitive part of his body.

Picking up Chip carefully, he set his 'brother' on his shoulder. Chip smiled at the gesture, before asking, "What about you Sonic? Are you alright?"

Sonic nodded briefly, and Vanilla was stunned to see that all the rage had completely vanished from his eyes. She looked at Chip, and realized something.

"You're the trigger…"

Not hearing her words, Sonic and Chip looked at the others, silently asking if they were alright.

When they didn't answer, Sonic took a step towards them, but froze when Knuckles suddenly growled. He took a step back and Knuckles stopped growling, surprised he had done so in the first place.

"Sonic I…I didn't mean to…" he tried to apologize, but the words wouldn't come out, as if he knew he was lying. His hands were shaking, and he glared at them. He was scared.

Everyone was scared.

Except the people that mattered.

Sonic watched as the fear swam in his friends eyes, and sighed quietly. If Vanilla and Chip feared him that badly, he would've lost his sanity a long time ago.

Tails finally gained the courage to speak. "What did Eggman mean? You lost your sanity before?"

Sonic sighed, before he pointed at Amy, "She and Cosmo were captured. They got hurt and I got pissed. I turned Dark. End of story."

Amy's eyes watered, stunned that she had been a reason of Sonic's previous insanity.

Sonic found himself chuckling at the memory, "Hehe, remembered how I acted. Was actually pretty fun now that I think about it." He grinned, his sharpened teeth glinting.

Knuckled stared at him, "You loose it yet? Cause you sure aren't acting like the Sonic we know."

Sonic just smiled at him, "You're right. I'm not acting like him. Because that Sonic wasn't real. This is the real Sonic. You don't like how I think, then get the hell away from me."

Vanilla stared at her son sadly, "Sonic…what happened to you to make you like this?"

"A story for another time." he looked at his friends, "Just so you know, I only became violent when you all were going to be hurt, so stop being so damn afraid. It's suffocating."

Chip stared at Sonic tiredly, _'So he's stopped acting has he? This'll be interesting.'_


	11. Be Quiet

Sonic's 'friends' stared at his back silently, as they walked through the trees. Vanilla's house was deemed no longer safe, since the previous attack, and they decided to seek a town. Chip was still on Sonic's shoulder, nursing his damaged wing. Vanilla watched him, chiming in every once in a while with ideas on how to heal it, all of which Chip met with a smile. Sonic watched the trail in front of him, not once glancing back to see whether or not the other's were there.

If Vanilla slowed down, he did the same, patiently waiting for her to catch her breath. However when Tails had complained about being tired, he hadn't even glanced back.

It was only when Vanilla placed a hand lightly on his arm that he stopped. He looked at her face, before sighing and saying, "Alright, resting break."

Sighing gratefully, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream sat tiredly. Chip looked at them, and while he didn't think Sonic's should've been treating them like so, he couldn't blame him.

Why would you want to worry about people that were scared of you to such an extent that they ran when you tried to help them?

He broke out of his thoughts when Vanilla took his tiny hand in hers. "Will you and Sonic go somewhere for a moment Deary? I have to talk with the others."

Had she been anyone else, Sonic would've lost all trust in them, but because it was Vanilla, Sonic simply nodded and started to walk away.

"You'll have to wait a minute though. My hearing's a little to well. Wouldn't want to eavesdrop."

Vanilla smiled at him, "Thank you for the honesty." Sonic nodded and walked until he was out of sight. Vanilla waited a few more minutes, until she finally turned to her Daughter and her friends, who were watching her curious.

"So what's so important that Sonic and Chip don't get to hear it?" Amy asked loudly. Vanilla frowned.

"Not so loud dear."

Tails frowned, "Amy's right though. What is it Vanilla?"

"You'd better not be keeping secrets from us!" Knuckles said.

Vanilla frowned at him, starting to see the reason why Sonic had turned so distant. Her love for her daughter had blinded her to the pure oblivious fact that her friends were obnoxious. But then again, they were still children after all…

Vanilla sighed, and began talking, "I'll get straight to the point. I think Chip's the reason that Sonic loses his temper so easily."

Their heads shot up, but Tail's nodded, "He did seem angrier when Chip got hurt. Much more so than when we were in danger."

Vanilla continued, "But that's not the only thing. I think Chip may also be the one thing that calms Sonic down from his rage."

Amy sighed, "So then, separating Chip and Sonic isn't really an option then is it?"

"No, it's not. But what we can do, is try to keep Chip completely out of harms way. If we manage to do that, Sonic wouldn't have a reason to be angry." Vanilla said. "But that can backfire just as easily," she added solemnly, "Chip might be insulted by it, and try and be in the fights to prove he can protect himself, and get hurt."

"And then the whole thing would backfire," Amy finished sadly.

Cream looked at her mother sadly, "Then…what do we do?"

Vanilla smiled sadly, "We should trust Sonic. If he sees that we can take care of ourselves, maybe he'll trust us enough to watch over Chip. Make sure he's not hurt in battles."

Amy frowned, "We have to get his trust? That's not going to be possible! He'd never let us look after Chip. Chip's to important to him."

Knuckles smirked at him, "You're just jealous that Sonic cares more about Chip than he does you."

Amy scowled and bashed him with her hammer. "Like you care! You never cared about Sonic in the first place!"

Unconscious, Knuckles was unable to reply. To the unseen ear, it was as if he had simply agreed with her. And that's exactly what it sounded like.

They continued talking for quite a while, completely oblivious to the black and red hedgehog just a ways away from them. Red eyes flashed, and for the first time, they looked sad.

And the red eyes glanced to the side, where a certain werehog was sitting, hands placed half heartedly over his ears, Chip napping on his shoulder.

Sonic looked at his feet, before closing his eyes.

**"To loud."**

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><p>Written in like, 7 minutes. If you haven't figured it out by now, this fic is pretty Amy bashing.<p> 


	12. Sleep

Warnings- none

Notes- none

Rated- what its damn rated

Uploaded- September 22 2012

Sacrafices of the Heart Chapter 12

Sleep

Sonic hummed quietly to himself, drawing a lazy pattern in the ground at his feet with a ransom stick he had found. After hearing his friends talk about him, he had no desire to go back. And, if he listened hard enough, he was still able to understand that they were indeed, still talking about him.

So, he didn't listen. Chip was still asleep on his shoulder, and Shadow had made himself known as well. He stood beside Sonic, patiently watching him draw, which was a very un-shadow like thing for him to do. Sonic wasn't going to complain though, and didn't want to ruin the moment with small talk, so he just glanced at Shadow gratefully.

The gesture was returned, and absentmindedly, Shadow sat next to him, and took a stick himself. Surprised, but not unhappy, Sonic swiped away at half of the ground, clearing space for Shadow to draw.

The black hedgehog stared at the ground quietly, and started to draw.

"Why are you out here?"

Sonic paused at the unexpected question, "What do you mean, Shadow?"

Not looking up, Shadow continued, "This isn't like you, Faker. You weren't one to give up."

Sonic was confused, "And what exactly did I give up on?"

Shadow gestured to the sound of hushed voices with his stick, "Those people over there. You gave up thinking that they would stop being afraid of you, am I right?"

Sonic started drawing again, "So you agree then. That they're scared of me…"

Shadow frowned, scraping out a part of his picture, "You're a huge, blue and white werehog. I'd be worried if they weren't afraid of you." He nudged Sonic's shoe with his stick, "And from what I've seen, you haven't been one to help with that very much."

Sonic frowned, "What you've seen? Then you've been watching us?"

Shadow snorted, "I didn't do it out of the kindness of my heart, believe me. I ran into Eggman right after I left the first time. He told me some stuff that interested me, so I came back. It's just a coincidence that I revealed myself at this time."

"But you still did," Sonic said absentmindedly. "You did come out, and you did talk to me."

Shadow glanced at Chip's sleeping form on Sonic's shoulder, and smirked, "Guess I did, huh."

Sonic shook his head, a small smile on his face, "You really are something, you know that?"

"I try." Then Shadow's frown returned, "I do have to ask you something though."

"What is it?"

"Do you even want to go back? To being the old you, I mean."

Sonic stopped drawing, and thought. "I…I don't know."

Shadow huffed, then clapped him on the arm, "You might want to think about that, Faker. Wouldn't want you to stay in a body that can't beat me in a race would you? Not that you'd beat me anyway."

Sonic stared at his shoes, before saying quietly, "I might…actually prefer it, like this."

Shadow stopped drawing and dropped his stick. Standing up, he turned to face away from Sonic, "That's your call Faker. I only mean, that when this is all over, you might not get to choose."

He took a step away, "On the other hand," he turned to face Sonic, "You might have to make a choice. Just, make a good one."

Sonic smirked, "Thanks, but why so chummy today?"

Shadow growled, then turned away, "It just pissed me off how sad you looked every time you saw them looking at you. It's stupid that someone should make another sad just because they're scared."

Something clicked in Shadow's head, and he chuckled hollowly, "Then again, you're not the only one to get reactions like that, are you?"

Before Sonic could answer, Shadow was gone. He realized, maybe a little to late, that the distant voices of his friends had quieted, and he caught himself wondering if they had moved on without him.

'_Vanilla wouldn't do that… and, maybe Tails wouldn't either?'_

Before all this happened, the two of them had been like brothers after all. And the rest of them, the old Sonic had been willing to lose something he loved to keep them safe. Sonic had to wonder what it was the old him had seen that he hadn't. Then he understood it.

Admiration.

In his old form, everyone had admired him. They had loved him and wanted to be around him. No one would be scared of a three… maybe four foot hedgehog. But everyone was scared of a seven foot werehog.

The more he thought about it, the sadder and angrier he became. Eventually, his thoughts drifted to Chip, and his eyes widened. What if they did something to Chip, just to get him to leave?

He didn't know who '_they' _were. '_They' _could be his friends, or the people in the cities he had been to, but the fact that anyone would take Chip away… that anyone would even _touch _Chip…

His fist collided solidly with a tree trunk beside him, but this time, he was in complete control. The sound of snapping wood brought his attention to another sound. The sound of little wings flapping.

He flinched as a small hand placed itself on his muzzle carefully. That's right, Chip had been on his shoulder, hadn't he.

Sonic mumbled an apology about waking him up, but Chip was quiet. It was the first time he had seen the small sprite so focused, so serious. He lowered his arm from it's place on the broken trunk, and Chip flew over to it, on wings that were still broken, Sonic realized.

With a gasp, he carefully pulled Chip out of the air, and still the sprite said nothing.

"Why are you flying? Your wings are still hurt aren't they? Stay on my shoulder until you get better you doofus."

Chip finally smiled, and Sonic had to stifle his confusion. He looked his friend up and down, trying to find something that would explain his behavior. He was caught off guard when Chip hugged him.

The little sprite leaned into Sonic's fur, before he said quietly, "I'm sorry."

Sonic frowned, before a sad look crossed his face, "You were supposed to be sleeping Chip."

Letting go, Chip carefully hopped to the ground; half to escape the stare of his friend, half out of his curiosity to see what his friend had been drawing.

Sonic had drawn a sort of half moon half sun. The left half was a crescent moon, while the rest of the circle was decorated with small squiggles, representing what Chip assumed was fire.

Shadow had drawn a girl.

And Chip didn't have the heart to ask who she was.

He felt a weight on his head, and looked up to see Sonic had placed his hand softly there.

"Hey," He said quietly. Chip nodded.

"Thanks."

Chip grinned again, and grabbed hold of the furry hand on his head, which then gently lifted him to an equally furry shoulder.

"You're welcome."

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><p>Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't been uploading! My computer got a virus that made it so I couldn't go on the internet, and no internet = no updates. To make it up to you all, I'm going to try and update all of my stories the same day or the day after this one!<p> 


	13. Peace

Sacrifices of the Heart Chapter 13

Peace

Sonic smiled down at his friends. They hadn't left, as he'd originally thought, rather they had all fallen asleep. Glancing up at the sky, it was rather late, and Sonic was surprised how much time had passed without him noticing. Chip noticed the smile on his face, and smiled with him.

"You tired Sonic?"

Sonic nodded to his friend, before finding a spot a little away from the others, under a tree with branches big enough to shield him from any rain, should it come. Crossing his arms under his head, Sonic found a hole in the branches and stared up at the stars. Feeling Chip move, he glanced down to see the little creature snuggling into the fur on his chest.

"Night Sonic," he mumbled, and before Sonic could respond, he was fast asleep. Chuckling lightly, Sonic returned to looking up at the stars.

He wanted things to be like this. His friends at peace, calm, unafraid of him. He had to admit that Shadow had been right though. He hadn't exactly been doing a whole lot to make them unafraid.

He'd just been pushing them away.

What would he have done had he been in their place? He shook the thought away. That would be different. This had happened to him before. He would understand. How could he have expected them to understand?

He'd expected to much.

As he stared up at the twinkling lights above him, he slowly became more and more confused.

What was he going to do now? Say… they never defeated Dark Gaia? He would go into hiding most likely, and remain a were hog. But that couldn't be an option. He needed to defeat Dark Gaia. If he didn't, the people he cared about would be in danger forever.

But then, if he did defeat him… What would he do then? Would he change back? Would he even have a say in the matter?

Eggman had said that Dark Gaia wanted him how he used to be… but that he also wanted his sanity. Why? Why would Dark Gaia want him to be a normal hedgehog, granted an insane one?

Sonic's eyes widened. Had Eggman… No. He shouldn't worry about it. Relaxing, he sighed through his nose. What use would Dark Gaia have for an insane Dark Sonic anyways? Wouldn't it be better to just kill him and be done with it?

Sonic's eyes narrowed at a sudden thought. If he was dead…would he even have to make that choice? Return to normal and play fake with his friends, while hurting Chip in the process? Stay a Werehog and… Sonic blinked. His friends were already hurt a bit… what more damage could he even cause by staying like this?

Some part of him hoped he didn't get to choose. If it wasn't his decision, nobody had the right to judge him on the outcome…

Right?

Deciding to ignore the thought, Sonic glanced down at Chip, to see that the little Sprite had woken at some point, and also that more time had passed while he'd been thinking than he'd thought. Much more time.

It was morning.

Sighing out his nose again, Sonic nudged his friend, and Chip responded by hopping off of him. Sonic sat up, and glanced at the still sleeping faces of his friends. He didn't notice Chip staring at him until the small Sprite spoke up.

"You didn't sleep at all did you?"

Sonic chuckled, "How do you know that?"

Chip stared at him, not amused, "Is something wrong? What were you doing? You didn't go anywhere did you? I would've woken up if you did."

Going unnoticed to the talking friends, Tails and Knuckles had woken up, and were both listening to the conversation.

Sonic sighed, "No… I didn't go anywhere. I was just thinking."

Chip huffed, "Just thinking doesn't prevent you from sleeping the whole night. What's wrong? You can tell me Sonic."

Instead of replying through voice, Sonic reached out and hugged Chip gently, Chip doing his best to hug him back.

"…Sonic?"

Not being able to see what was going on with his back turned, Tails yawned loudly, trying to pretend he had just woken up. Sonic didn't release Chip however, and the little creature did not object.

Sitting up, Tails sleepily looked around and shook who was closest to him awake, "Hey Amy. Wake up, Sonic came back."

Yawning herself, Amy sat up, and promptly looked around for Sonic. Seeing him hugging Chip, the jealousy she had expected had not come. Instead she saw past the contact, and for once, saw that something was wrong.

"Sonic? Are you alright?"

The talking had gradually woken the others, and one by one they sat up and looked over at Sonic.

"You okay buddy?" Tails asked.

Looking up at his friends, Sonic smiled and released Chip, "Yeah," he said hesitantly, "I'm fine." Feeling like he should reassure his friends, Sonic looked over at Tails, "Alright Leader. Where're we headed today?"

Tails jumped, but smiled, "Leader? Since when am I the Leader?"

"You don't want to be Leader?"

Tails jumped up and shook his hands quickly, "No no! Of course I do!"

Sonic laughed, and immediately everyone relaxed. Vanilla smiled, slightly befuddled to the sudden change in Sonic's attitude, but decided not to question it.

Still watching his friend, Chip asked once more, "You sure you're alright?"

Sonic smiled at him and picked him up, placing him on his shoulder, "Yeah Chip. I'm fine."

Chip glanced at everyone, "Alright guys, since I know he wont say, Sonic didn't sleep at all last night, so let's try and take it slow today, alright?"

Sonic expected the others to complain. To say how he hadn't let them rest when they were tired, but instead he just got concerned looks and nods.

It shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did.

Tails clapped, getting everyone's attention. "Alright! So what does everyone want to do? I'm reluctant to bring Vanilla into this, if fighting Dark Gaia is indeed the plan. What are your opinions everyone?"

"What do you mean if?" Knuckles smirked, "Of course we're going to fight Dark Gaia! We're going to win against it too!"

"As nice a thought as that is Knuckles, we should think realistically," Cream said sadly.

"But you all saw Sonic fight yesterday! He easily took out those minions! We have this fight in the bag," Knuckles smirked, earning himself a hit over the head with Amy's hammer, "Agh! Not again dammit!"

This, strangly ehough, caught Sonic's attention, "Again? When did she do it before?"

"Last night when we were talking. Knuckles said something Amy didn't like and she knocked him out with her hammer," Tails answered.

Sonic blinked, a smile slowly crossing his features, "He was unconscious…" Understanding what Sonic had realized, Chip smiled for his friend.

"Yup."

Tails just blinked, "…Alright then."

Vanilla stood up, "I don't want any of you to worry about me during these fights. I'll get myself well out of the way, I promise."

"And if it's not far enough," Chip grinned, "Me and Sonic will just help you along."

At the statement, everyone who had been there remembered the conversation the night before, and they all looked at Sonic and Chip.

Chip became nervous, "Uh… did I say something wrong?"

"No you didn't say anything," Cream said, which only made him more confused.

Sonic just shrugged and put Chip on his shoulder again, "So? Let's go do something! No use waiting around here. Let's just figure out everything as it comes at us."

"I agree! Team, let's go!" Tails exclaimed jovially.

And they went.

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><p>Please vote on my poll everyone! You get to choose what genre I write about next! These stories are almost done :D<p> 


	14. Broken Skin

Notes: I'll try and update more often now, but no promises. That goes for all a'my stories.

It's almost summer vacation, so hopefully I'll be uploading all the time then.

Warning: Implied violence.

Rated: T because story.

Uploaded:5/17/13

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><p>Sacrifices of the Heart Chapter 14<p>

Broken Skin

Sonic walked slowly through the trees, his friends leading. He hadn't been worried about the lack of sleep he had gotten a few hours ago, when he had woken up, but that had changed. He was exhausted. Forcing his feet to move faster so as to not hint at his lack of energy, he squeezed his eyes shut.

This had been a stupid choice.

He shouldn't have wasted time thinking when he could have been sleeping. It had been a little while since he had felt the to familiar feeling of rage bubble up inside him, and now that his mind was tired, he could feel that anger creeping up on him. He didn't want to snap in front of his friends, but as he felt himself falter, he realized he had to make a decision.

He could say nothing, black out, and explode in front of his friends, or say something, get them to back off, and rage to an empty forest.

He liked the second choice.

"Tails," he rasped, and watched as a few heads turned, but the ecstatic fox leader kept walking. He called louder, "Tails!" The volume of his own cry forced his feet to stop moving and his eyes to clench shut as he held his head.

This immediately set off warning bells in everyone's heads.

Tails turned, and when he saw Sonic, he immediately ran to his side.

"Sonic? What's wrong?"

After taking a deep breath, Sonic forced his eyes opened and raised his head, "You all need to leave. Now."

Tails looked up at him confused, "What? How come?"

Pain flashed through Sonic's head, and he flinched, his eyes shutting again. Amy and Chip rushed towards him.

"Sonic? What's wrong? Why do you want us to leave?" Amy cried, her voice sending jolts of pain through Sonic's skull. He looked up at Chip, pleading for the little sprite to understand.

He did.

And when the look of realization flickered across his face, tears flashed in his eyes.

"Tails. We have to go. Now." Tails looked at Chip, and seeing his tears, held his tongue.

"Please," Chip continued, "We need to leave, now. You need to trust me."

Tails growled under his breath, and turned to face his friends, "We're leaving." He directed his words at Chip, "How…how far away should we get?"

Chip looked at Sonic, who was folding in on himself, and his eyes widened, "A long ways away! We need to go now!"

So they ran, and even the densest of those among them realized what was going on. And they couldn't help but wonder how often this would happen, and what the toll would be. But they couldn't focus on that right then. Their feet slammed into the dirt ground as they hastened to put as much distance between them and Sonic as possible in the time they had.

They just wished they knew how much time that was.

Sonic struggled past the trees, leaning on them for support as he tried to greaten the distance between him and his friends. He was relieved that Chip had gone with them, so he wouldn't be hurt, but at the same time the thought that the little sprite had left him sent a pang of hurt through his chest.

He heard a crunch, and wasn't surprised to see that he had destroyed a tree off to his right. Clenching his teeth shut, he bit back the howl of anger that he desperately wanted to release. He had to get away from his friends. He had to let his rage out or it would consume him, but he couldn't let his friends be hurt in the process.

He heard a rustling in the space beside him, and on instinct lasted out. His fist slammed roughly into the trunk of a tree, and he saw a person flicker into being on his other side.

Shadow.

Sonic growled before clenching his fists, trying to stifle the panic that had sputtered to life upon seeing his friend. Shadow watched him for a moment, before growling himself and lashing out himself at a fallen tree, denting it with each blow that landed.

And Sonic realized that Shadow understood what he was feeling. He had been angry long before he was, and he felt his mouth moving, "Does it help?"

Shadow growled, before his eyes flickered to Sonic's face.

"No."

And then Sonic's vision went black, and a howl burst past his teeth.

And he felt his claws tear through skin.


	15. Weakness

Notes: I really love this chapter.

Warning: A bit of blood I guess.

Rated: T

Uploaded: September 22 2013

Chapter 15

Weakness

When they heard him change, they didn't stop. When they heard the to-familiar sound of trees snapping, then falling, they ran faster. And not once in ten minutes did they slow.

But when they did, they knew they had to go back.

The scent of blood reached their noses.

And they ran.

They didn't stop until they found Shadow.

Gasping for air, Chip and Tails looked frantically around the clearing they had just burst into, until dilated red eyes locked onto them.

Shadow was crouched on the ground nearby. His eyes were slightly dimmer that usual, and his breath was coming out in short gasps. The seven watched him warily, taking concern to his disheveled look, before Knuckles took a step towards him.

He had not expected the hedgehog to flinch.

Knuckles stepped back, surprised, before turning to send a worried glance at his friends. Something was very wrong. Chip walked over to Shadow's side slowly, giving the shaken hedgehog time to acknowledge his presence, before placing a hand on Shadow's arm.

"What happened?"

Shadow clenched his jaw shut and forced himself to look at Chip's concerned expression. His eyes flickered over Chip's as he tried to force words into his mouth.

"Where's Sonic?"

Shadow's eyes cleared suddenly, and Chip withdrew his hand, worried he had upset his friend. He jumped when Shadow quickly grabbed Chip's hand in his own. Chip watched, confused and concerned, as Shadow carefully turned his small hand over. The hedgehog seemed confused himself, a frown tugging at his mouth, before his eyes dimmed again and he winced, releasing Chip's hand.

The others watched the exchange, their worry escalating at Shadow's uncharacteristic display of emotions. The usually stoic hedgehog could suddenly be read like a book, his fear and confusion thrown out for them all to see.

Shadow tightened his features and stood up shakily, forcing his breathing to even out, if only slightly. He glared at the ground and kept his silence.

For the longest time, no one had the nerve to break it.

Then finally, Tails spoke up, "Shadow, what happened here?" he gestured around him at the broken trees, before turning to look at Shadow once more, "What did Sonic do to you?"

Shadow raised his head to glare at Tails, and the fox only frowned, seeing the slightly confused haze that had refused to leave since they had found him in his gaze. "We can't help you if you don't talk to us."

Shadow couldn't stop a growl from erupting from his mouth, and before the others could comment, he started walking away.

The others found they couldn't do anything but follow.

And then they found him.

A little ways away, in the very middle of a circle of toppled and broken tree trunks, sat Sonic.

His eyes were screwed shut, and he was sitting back on his haunches taking slow, controlled breaths. Chip flew over to him shakily, his wings still slightly damaged, and landed cautiously a foot or two away.

Vanilla watched him, concerned. She hugged her daughter to her side, and Cream in turn held onto Cheese's hand as the chao shivered. Tails followed Chip's advance, however he stopped considerably farther than the Sprite had, and lowered his ears. He watched Sonic's ear twitch, and knew the werehog was aware of their presence. He took the fact that Sonic hadn't immediately attacked them as a good sign.

Knuckles moved closer to Shadow, watching him try to hide the fact he still couldn't stand without wobbling, and frowned worriedly at the normally collected hedgehog's lack of poise. Watching Shadow with uncharacteristic concern, Knuckles addressed Sonic.

"What'd you do to Shadow?"

Sonic was unable to stop a feral grown from tearing past his lips, and bit down immediately afterward, refusing to let any more unnecessary noises be heard. At the unexpected noise, everyone in the group flinched, including Shadow, and Knuckles frown deepened. Amy tore her eyes from Sonic and joined Knuckles in watching Shadow, before she convinced herself they needed to get Sonic to talk.

It was Chip who managed it.

He didn't say a word. Only inched forward slowly, deliberately crunching the dirt beneath his feet so Sonic could hear his approach. Tentatively, he reached out and brushed a hand across Sonic's arm lightly. His lips had parted to speak, but instead a startled gasp rang out through the clearing, and Chip was hovering in the air again. He landed on Sonic's legs, desperately trying to see Sonic's arms, which no one had noticed he had kept hidden beneath his torso. Tails's eyes widened in understanding.

He'd forgotten he had smelled blood.

And he didn't see any on Shadow.

Suddenly incredibly nervous, Tails took a step closer to Sonic, desperately wanting to make sure his friend was alright, but knowing if he got to close he could end up causing more harm than good.

The others watched with baited breath, before Shadow blinked and opened his mouth to finally, _finally _say something.

His voice died in his throat, and both Tails and Cream joined Amy and Knuckles in concern for their troubled friend.

It was Knuckles that decided he needed to step up.

He walked towards Sonic loudly, hiding his own unease, and addressed him.

"Are you alright?"

Sonic blinked, nodded, and returned his focus to Chip. Knuckles growled.

"That's not good enough Sonic. What happened? What did you do to Shadow?"

Shadow. Sonic's head snapped up. He had forgotten about the black hedgehog. Spotting him quickly, Sonic had prepared himself for a look of hatred.

Instead he saw complete disorientation.

Sonic immediately started thinking. Trying to remember exactly what he had done while raging to earn that look, before he decided to expose his arms to the others. Chip made a sound of pure sorrow in the back of his throat before quickly reaching up to hug Sonic.

His arms were nearly mangled.

Amy sucked in a quick breath, before turning to Shadow, "What happened? Why are his arms like that!?"

And Shadow forced himself to speak.

"He…" he took a deep breath, then seemed to grow even more confused and blinked slowly. He raised his head to stare blearily at Sonic, "…What did you do?"

And then Sonic remembered, and then he was moving.

He was at Shadow's side in an instant, supporting the staggering Hedgehog, careful not to injure his arms even more. His friends jumped at his sudden movement, before hurrying to his and Shadow's side.

"Tails." Tails's gaze shot over to Sonic, "I need you to find somewhere we can spend the night tonight. Somewhere safe."

Tails nodded, his worry escalating, "What happened? What's wrong with Shadow?"

"I gave him a concussion." Everyone's eyes widened and they gave Sonic a look of horror, before looking at Shadow as though with new eyes.

"He wasn't prepared for me to lash out. It was an accident, and I threw him into a few trees. From the looks of it…" he watched Shadow struggle to stay on his feet and his worry escalated, "…I might've given him more than one concussion."

"But what about your arms?" Tails pushed his concern for Shadow aside.

Sonic sighed heavily through his nose, "When I realized what I was doing, I couldn't stop myself." he shrugged, "I had to hurt myself to wake myself up."

"…Shut up, Faker…"

Sonic returned his focus onto Shadow, frowning as the hedgehog shrugged his arm away, standing on his own.

He refused to be a burden.

Forcing himself to focus, Shadow shoved his confusion away. His head was starting to ache quite badly, and he knew if the others remained so close he would be unable to hide his pain.

So he pushed them away.

He always pushed people away.

"I'm fine," he growled. "Focus on his arms. They're way worse off than I am anyways."

Nonetheless, Shadow found that he was disappointed when they turned away.

With the lack of attention towards himself, Shadow walked away shakily. When he was a few yards away, he allowed himself to fall into a sitting position. With hushed voices as background noise, Shadow crossed his legs, held his head tenderly in his hands, and wondered how long it would take for his concussion to make him pass out.

It wasn't until he felt a hand shaking him that he realized it already had.

The sky was dark, his head pounded with pain, and he was looking into the brightest blue eyes he had ever seen.

They reminded him of Maria.

He blinked, and the hand that was shaking him was gone suddenly, and the voices he had passed out to were quiet. He was lying on his side on the same patch of dirt he had been sitting on, and it occurred to him that until now, no one had approached him to make sure he was alright.

He hated that it made him somewhat sad.

Sitting up carefully, Shadow became aware there were eyes watching him, and when he raised his head to meet them, they did not falter.

"Sorry about earlier Shadow." Shadow's eyes flickered to Sonic, and the werehog sighed in relief at the clarity he saw there. Shadow just nodded, and it occurred to the others that they had not heard him speak in a very long time.

Tails chided amusedly, but with an underlying tone of concern, "You're not supposed to sleep when you have a concussion, Shadow."

And before he could stop himself, Shadow responded, "I didn't see any of you trying to wake me up earlier."

All sound stopped.

Tails bristled, and in a sudden bout of uncharacteristic anger, he threw his hands up, "You know what? Fine. Do whatever you want. I don't care anymore."

It occurred to Shadow that the fox must have been under large amounts of stress in the past few hours; that he must have been scared and confused; that not knowing if his friends were going to be alright must have been terrifying.

Then Shadow reminded himself that they weren't friends.

After a few moments, Chip broke the silence by making a joke, earning laughter and banter for the next several hours. Occasionally, Shadow would chime in.

But when he thought no one was looking, he would glance down at his hands, and remember how light and kind Chip's hand had felt. And then he would look up at Sonic and wonder how such small hands could calm such a raging anger.

He found himself wishing he had someone who could do that for him.

But he knew, the only person he could have sought help from was dead.

And it was his fault.

And in a moment of regret, he found himself wishing his concussion had killed him.


End file.
